Galileo Galilei was a famous scientist and philosopher who lived in seventeen century Italy. He conducted many different experiments, and is famous for making many scientific discoveries that helped shape how we think today ( e.g. the pendulum). He was also famous for being accused of heresy for his many experiments proving Aristotle wrong. Though he was a Christian for life, the Church decided to sentence him to house arrest for life due to his many "actions against the church". Galileo was born in Italy, on February 14, 1564. He was taught at home until age 11, which helped him develop his own ideas and not be force fed by the church. One of Galileos most famous experiments was when he dropped two cannonballs of different weights off the leaning tower of Pisa and showing that they hit the ground at the same time, proving Aristotle's theory that objects of different weights fall at speeds wrong. Galileo was promptly fired from the college he was working at.
MOON OBSERVATIONS
The Moon on Feb. 9, in it's waxing crescent phase
Galileo discovered the moon had craters and mountains by using a telescope to measure the shadows they cast on the face of the moon. This disproved Aristotle's ideas because he said that everything in the universe was a perfect sphere, and the craters on the moon showed that it was imperfect.
A Moon Crater
JUPITER AND IT'S MOONS
Galileo was the first person to discover that Jupiter had four moons orbiting it. This disproved many "haters" (including Aristotle) , showing them that if Jupiter could have FOUR moons orbiting it then not everything orbited the earth, thus dis[proving Aristotle and Ptolemy.
Jupiter and it's Moons - Feb. 21
Jupiter Moon Animation - 25,26,27
SATURN'S RINGS
In 1610, Galileo was the first person to observe Saturn with a telescope. As he observed the rings of Saturn, he thought that they were two more small planets surounding Saturn. He described them as looking like this: oOo. But in 1612, when Galileo looked at Saturn once again, these planets had vanished. Galileo was extremely suprised, though we now know that he was just viewing the rings at an odd angle when the planets "vanished".
Green Saturn, Feb. 22
SUNSPOTS ON THE SUN
Galileo was also the first person to discover the sun had patches on it that were darker than usual. These were later named sunspots, and went against Aristotle's idea that every object in the heavens was perfect.
Sun On March 4
VENUS HAS PHASES
Galileo was the first person to discover that Venus had a full set of phases, similar to those of the moon. This disproved the widely believed idea that Venus could only display a Crescent phase, and that it was in between the earth and the sun and proved Copernicus's idea that everything rotated around the sun.
INTRO
Galileo Galilei was a famous scientist and philosopher who lived in seventeen century Italy. He conducted many different experiments, and is famous for making many scientific discoveries that helped shape how we think today ( e.g. the pendulum). He was also famous for being accused of heresy for his many experiments proving Aristotle wrong. Though he was a Christian for life, the Church decided to sentence him to house arrest for life due to his many "actions against the church". Galileo was born in Italy, on February 14, 1564. He was taught at home until age 11, which helped him develop his own ideas and not be force fed by the church. One of Galileos most famous experiments was when he dropped two cannonballs of different weights off the leaning tower of Pisa and showing that they hit the ground at the same time, proving Aristotle's theory that objects of different weights fall at speeds wrong. Galileo was promptly fired from the college he was working at.MOON OBSERVATIONS
JUPITER AND IT'S MOONSGalileo was the first person to discover that Jupiter had four moons orbiting it. This disproved many "haters" (including Aristotle) , showing them that if Jupiter could have FOUR moons orbiting it then not everything orbited the earth, thus dis[proving Aristotle and Ptolemy.
SATURN'S RINGS
In 1610, Galileo was the first person to observe Saturn with a telescope. As he observed the rings of Saturn, he thought that they were two more small planets surounding Saturn. He described them as looking like this: oOo. But in 1612, when Galileo looked at Saturn once again, these planets had vanished. Galileo was extremely suprised, though we now know that he was just viewing the rings at an odd angle when the planets "vanished".SUNSPOTS ON THE SUN
Galileo was also the first person to discover the sun had patches on it that were darker than usual. These were later named sunspots, and went against Aristotle's idea that every object in the heavens was perfect.VENUS HAS PHASES
Galileo was the first person to discover that Venus had a full set of phases, similar to those of the moon. This disproved the widely believed idea that Venus could only display a Crescent phase, and that it was in between the earth and the sun and proved Copernicus's idea that everything rotated around the sun.